From the Chaos
by greeneyes-99
Summary: After the apocalypse the world is in chaos. After Edward saves Bella not only from physical harm, but from damage from the past, Bella starts to understand what love truly is. Though Edward is struggling with his own demons,he finds the will to live again


Charlie died last month. Charlie was my father, by the way.

At the time, we were taking shelter from the onslaught of rain in an old dilapidated, mouldy house. He had been sick for quite a while so his death didn't really come as a surprise to either of us. I remember the concern Charlie had when he began his cough. He was so worried that I would get sick also.

For weeks, he had taught me where to gather food and find water. Getting water wasn't really an issue in the Pacific north-west. It rained almost constantly. But there could be at least a week where it wouldn't rain, and Charlie wanted me to be prepared for that.

I remember sitting in the dark with my dad. The only light was coming from the old kerosene lamp that I had resting near his head. There was a light patter of rain on the house.

I can remember clearly him taking off his jacket and handing it over to me. I tried to rest it on top of him like a blanket, but he wasn't having it. "You'll need it more." He wheezed out through his coughs.

He wouldn't relax until I put his warm, soft jacket on. I have to admit, that I felt comfort putting it on.

I moved in with Charlie when I was eight years old. Not by choice, mind you.

When I was just a baby, my mom took me away from Forks, where she lived with my dad and disappeared. Still, to this day I don't understand exactly what her motives were, or even her reasoning for abandoning my dad.

I grew up in a dessert, Arizona to be exact and I hated almost every minute of it. I didn't like the heat, I didn't like the dust, but most of all, I didn't like Phil.

Renee started dating Phil when I was six years old. He was nice at first, and I was excited to have a "dad". After he moved in though, he turned mean.

It started with little shoves and then small kicks to the rear if I was moving too slow. Then the slapping started, and then the punching.

I'm sure that Renee knew what was going on. That's why I can never forgive her. What kind of mother allows some boyfriend to hurt their child?

Eventually, after changing for P.E. at school, some students started noticing my bruised body, and they began commenting. The teacher, Mrs. Cope took notice of all the talk. Then the police took notice. Then I was taken into foster care while they looked for any living relative.

They asked about Charlie, but I didn't know who he was let alone his name.

The police officer told me that she was taking me to my real dad. I was filled with fear.

The police officer held my hand as we came off the plane in Seattle. It was cold, colder than I was used to. I was wearing my shorts, sandals, and a thin sweater.

We neared where a bunch of people were waiting. I scooted a little closer to the woman, I think her name was Esme.

I looked at all the faces of the men, wondering which one could be my father.

Esme stopped walking and pointed at a big man with a mustache.

I gripped Esme's hand tighter and leaned fully into her. She knelt down beside me. "What's wrong sweetheart?" she asked.

I burst into tears and said that I didn't want a dad anymore, that I wanted to stay with her because she was a police officer and to my eight year old mind I thought that she could protect me from everything.

Esme leaned into my ear and said, "Can I tell you a secret? Your dad is a police officer, just like me."

I stared at her with wide teary eyes and said that I still didn't want to meet him.

Esme sighed and said, "I promise you that your dad is a good man, and he won't ever hurt you."

My small body shook and I knew she could tell that I didn't believe her.

She stood up and once again, took my hand. "Come on sweetheart." She urged.

I followed obediently.

She stopped a metre away from Charlie. He had tears in his eyes also. We locked eyes and I continued to shiver.

Charlie didn't look like a bad man. He looked kind of nice. But I wasn't fully convinced.

Charlie looked at Esme and asked, "How is she?"

Esme sighed and said in a low voice, "Bella's scared."

He looked angry now and I stepped closer to Esme. Charlie's eyes got hard as he saw this.

"Where is he?" Charlie demanded.

"I'm sorry but I can't bring you to him."

"He deserves to be punished." Charlie growled.

"And he will be. You're a law-man. You know how the system works and the system doesn't take too kindly to child abuse." Esme soothed.

"Well where is she?" Charlie demanded.

"She's also in custody."

Tears leaked out of Charlie's eyes, "I looked everywhere for them."

I relaxed my rigid stance. Charlie just looked sad now and not like he wanted to hurt me.

Charlie set his eyes on me again. He knelt down in front of me.

"Hello," he said quietly, "I'm your dad, Charlie. You probably don't remember me much, but I love you."

I just blinked at him, shivering still.

He took off his big brown jacket and wrapped me up in it. The jacket covered my feet and reached the ground. "There now," he said softly, "We don't want you to be cold."

I started crying again, but instead of reaching for Esme, I wrapped my arms around Charlie's neck. He seemed taken aback for a moment before sobs ripped through him and he hugged me close.

"I promise to always protect you little Bella."

As Charlie lay dying, tears once again leaked through his eyes. Dad is a man of few words. This was the second time that I had seen him cry and it hurt.

"What's wrong dad?" I asked him.

"I'm so afraid." He trembled.

"You'll be fine dad. Don't worry." I reassured him.

"Bella," He gripped my hand, "I lived a good life, an even better one, once I got you back. I wouldn't change anything. But I made a promise that I would always protect you, and if I die, I can't do that anymore. I'm afraid for you Bella. The world's a crazy place."

I smiled at him through my tears, "Don't worry dad. I'll be fine. You prepared me for everything. I love you."

Dad gave a weak smile, "Love you." Then he breathed his last.

When I was ten it happened. There was a nuclear war. The world shut down. Everything stopped.

Forks was far enough away that the blast didn't really affect us. It was the after affects that got us though.

The structure of society crumbled. Along came anarchy and chaos. People were starting to kill others for possessions. Nowhere was safe. Charlie packed some of our things up and we've been wandering ever since.

That was nine years ago.

We thought there might be a military base that was still functioning, but everyone's been saying that the soldiers just abandoned ship and it's every man for himself.

Charlie did well for us. We only got into a scuffle a handful of times, and it was mainly a misunderstanding of some sort and everyone went their separate ways happy and safe.

Charlie sheltered me from the evils. He managed to steer us away from the bad that was going on.

He's been gone a month, just a month and I managed to get into trouble.

I was scrounging through a house, hoping to find food. I wasn't very good with the cross bow that Charlie gave me and I couldn't find any animals anyway.

Charlie was always reminding me that I should stay as much away from houses and civilization as much as possible. We used to mainly stay in the forest far from anyone. But I was just so hungry. I was desperate for food.

In my haste to find food, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings.

It came as a surprise to me when hands grabbed me from behind. "Hey, James! I found something."

"Anything good?" a man's voice called out. I was assuming it was James.

"Oh, yeah. She's soft and warm. Real warm. With big innocent brown eyes. You want her?"

I heard footsteps thundering through the house.

I struggled against my captor, "You better not be lying to me Laurent. I'm going to be pretty pissed if this is just some sick joke."

The man appeared in the doorway of the room. He reminded me of Phil. He was a fairly tall man with blond scraggly hair that was pushed behind his ears.

James chuckled when he saw me. "Ho ho ho. What is this? I sweet little treat for me?"

I struggled against Laurent.

"You can have her. I've still got Victoria back at camp." Laurent shoved me over to James.

He gripped my shoulders and he did a once over of my body. "I'll meet you at camp." James said, not taking his eyes off me.

"Are you sure. I could hold her down for you." Laurent offered.

"Nah. I think I'll be fine." James smirked.

Laurent gave a little wave and a laugh before exiting the house.

James pulled me to the living room. I struggled against his hold, punching and kicking at anything I could. It didn't seem to be affecting him much.

"You're really feisty. It's kind of nice."

He pushed me down on the couch and he fell hard against me, pinning me down.

"You're a small little thing too. It makes me feel big."

I knew I was small and weak. I was five foot two and the fact that I hadn't eaten anything in quite a while, didn't help me look any bigger.

He smirked at me before pushing his mouth onto mine. I tried to push his face away, but it didn't do much. I ended up biting his lip. James pulled away in surprise. His once somewhat relaxed face turned angry.

He slapped me hard. My own lip split. "You're going to do what I tell you, you little bitch."

He kissed me again, harder this time. He hitched my knee up on his hip. I struggled and tried to push him away. He just rocked against me in return.

I remembered the knife that Charlie told me to keep in my boot. I reached down, pulled it out and stabbed him in the shoulder. My hand quickly coated in warm blood.

James pulled away from me in surprise, swearing loudly.

I stole the opportunity. I stood up quickly, running from the house screaming the whole way.

Hopefully someone would hear me. Hopefully someone would help. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get very far. Sure, I injured him, but a hurt shoulder isn't going to do much to hinder his running.

I knew no one was around though. Everything was completely deserted.

I made it to the over grown front lawn of the house before James tackled me to the ground. He looked livid. He pulled his fist back and snapped it into my face, dazing me. He gave me a few more punches before someone pulled him off of me.

I could feel the blood coating my face. I saw a flash of bronze hair before my eyes rolled back into darkness.

**Hey readers! I started a new story. The last time I updated any of my other stories was I think a year ago. Sorry. I really don't think my other ones were very good though. Hopefully this one will be better. **

**I'm really into anarchy apocalypse, dystopian stories right now. So I figured that why not write one? **

**Please leave comments. It makes me feel like people are actually reading and caring. **

**Thanks! **


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